Marine Vet Who Stole Truck to Help Victims Gets a Surprise

The Marine vet who stole a truck to help the victims of the Las Vegas massacre is getting a shiny reward for his heroism.

A car dealership owner was so moved by Taylor Winston’s actions after the shooting on Oct. 1 that he reached out to the 29-year-old to offer him a silver Ford F-150.

“It’s very, very courageous what he did,” Shane Beus, owner of B5 motors, told The Republic. “He was willing to risk his life and run back into the storm and help out.”

Winston was dancing with his girlfriend at the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival when the first shots rang out. After escaping over a fence, he looked for a car with keys inside to help transport victims.

“First one we tried opening had keys sitting right there. I started looking for people to take to the hospital,” Winston told CBS. “There was just too many, and it was overwhelming how much blood was everywhere.”

The Las Vegas shooting became the deadliest in U.S. history with 58 people killed and almost 500 wounded.

Winston made two trips to the Desert Springs Hospital Medical Center before the first ambulances arrived. Photos of the truck he used show the back seats smeared with blood from the victims.

Winston returned the key to the truck he used to the owner.

Beus said that he doesn’t care what Winston does with the truck. Winston plans to sell his current car and donate the money to the victims of the shooting. He is expected to visit B5 Motors, located near Phoenix, on Monday.

Pence Offers Solace

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence visited Las Vegas on Saturday, Oct. 7, stressing unity and offering solace as police appealed to the public for help in uncovering a wealthy retiree’s motive for massacring 58 people at an outdoor concert this week.

Vice President Mike Pence is joined by his wife, Karen, in Las Vegas City Hall following a Unity Prayer Walk in Las Vegas on Oct. 7, 2017. (Reuters/Las Vegas Sun/Steve Marcus)

“We are united in our grief, in our support for those who have suffered and united in our resolve to end such evil in our time,” Pence said, joining Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman and other local leaders at a City Hall commemoration for victims of the shooting.

Participants trod seven miles along four separate paths to the event amid tight security. President Donald Trump paid a visit to Las Vegas earlier in the week.

Las Vegas‘ Democratic Congresswoman Dina Titus was the only speaker who touched on the subject of gun violence and politics, saying, “Let us also pray for those who have power that they will have the wisdom, the courage, and the resolve to find ways to end the gun violence that plagues our nation.”

Doves are released for each victim of the Route 91 Harvest music festival mass shooting at City Hall plaza in Las Vegas on Oct. 7, 2017. (Reuters/Chris Wattie)

The commemoration came as Clark County Undersheriff Kevin McMahill said investigators remain largely in the dark about what drove retired real estate investor and high-stakes gambler Stephen Paddock to carry out the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

“We have looked at everything, literally, to include the suspect’s personal life, any political affiliation, his social behaviors, economic situation, any potential radicalization,” McMahill told reporters late on Friday.

“We have been down each and every single one of these paths, trying to determine why, to determine who else may have known of these plans.”

A woman writes a message on one of the white crosses set up for the victims of the Route 91 Harvest music festival mass shooting in Las Vegas on Oct. 7, 2017. (Reuters/Chris Wattie)

McMahill said investigators had uncovered “no nexus” between ISIS and Paddock, even though the terrorist group had repeatedly claimed responsibility for the attack.

A piece of paper found in Paddock’s room at the Mandalay Bay hotel appeared to calculate the distance and height from his window to help target victims below, the CBS News show “60 Minutes” said in a news release on Saturday, ahead of a broadcast on Sunday featuring interviews with Clark County Sheriff’s officers, including one who said he saw the paper.

The Sheriff’s Office could not be immediately reached for comment.

Investigators have stressed that no suicide note had been found.

Reuters contributed to this report.